The Effectiveness of Social Skills Training Program for the Students with Mild Mental Disabilities

The study intended to define the effect of a training program on developing social skills among students with mild mental disabilities using a one-group-experimental design. A purposeful sample consisting of students (n = 18) including men (n = 11) and women (n = 7) was selected. The researcher administrated a training program for developing social skills and a Social Skills Scale consisting of (30) items distributed equally on two domains (Sharing personal relationships with others, and work performance-related social skills) after developing them. The Results showed that the level of social skills among students with mild mental disabilities was low. No statistically significant differences at (α = 0.05) were found in the responses of students with mild mental disabilities on the pre-test social skills scale in light of gender on all domains and the total score. Statistically significant differences at (p < 0.05) were found between pre and post-test of social skills scale on all domains and the total score in favor of post-test. The researcher recommends that all the efforts of parents, educators and officials must be combined to increase interest in this group of students, and to provide all material, moral, and training means to develop the social skills of students with mild mental disabilities and modify them for the better.